Saint Murray’s milestone

By
BRETT KOHLHAGEN

May 31, 2014, midnight

99 so far and all in great style

Brad Murray

IT’S taken 14 years for Brad Murray to get there.

But few Myrtleford players have put together a better 99 games than the inspirational Saint co-coach ahead of his milestone match against Wodonga at John Flower Oval today. To put it bluntly, if the Ovens and Murray club was picking a Team of the Century tomorrow then Murray would be starting smack bang in the middle of the ground.

Murray burst onto the scene for the Saints as a 17-year-old in 2000 and, in between stints with West Perth, Port Adelaide, Echuca and Blackburn, has hardly played a poor game. He’s won the Morris Medal, played in three grand finals, starred for the league and last year won his first best and fairest award at the McNamara Reserve after several narrow misses.

“It’s always good to notch up 100 for your home club,” Murray said.

“It’s taken a while but it’s good to get there. When I was a young bloke growing up and I just wanted to play one game.

“It’s something I will look back on for sure.”

The ladder will still paint a grim picture for the loser of today’s clash with either Ben Hollands or Murray and Leigh Corcoran staring at a 0-7 win-loss record and favouritism for the wooden spoon.

Murray hasn’t questioned his players’ commitment this season but says lapses in concentration have hurt them in winnable matches against Wodonga Raiders, Corowa-Rutherglen and Wangaratta.

“We need to get on the board and get reward for effort.

“Wodonga is in the same position as us so there’s a fair bit on it.

“It’s just going to come down to whoever produces close to four quarters,” he said.

Myrtleford will field its best side of the season with Brad and Hayden Murray, Christian Burgess and Tim Madden coming into the side while Wodonga also has reason to be confident after pushing Corowa-Rutherglen to the brink in its last match.

You can bank on Murray and Kristan Height getting a kick for the Saints and John Pratt and Hollands doing likewise for the visitors but it will be the other 19 players who determine the outcome.